How to Exercise Facial Muscles

This article was co-authored by Troy A. Miles, MD. Dr. Miles is an Orthopedic Surgeon specializing in Adult Joint Reconstruction in California. He received his MD from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 2010, followed by a residency at the Oregon Health & Science University and fellowship at UC Davis.

There are 24 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page.

A workout regimen is an excellent way to tone your muscles, lose inches, and control skin from sagging. Doing facial exercises, or facial yoga, is a natural way to make your face look younger by firming muscles and reducing wrinkles. These are also good exercises to do if you have a muscle problem on your face, creating stronger muscles for a toned and more confident look. There are approximately 50 muscles in your face, and exercising them has the added benefit of helping eye strain and releasing neck and facial tension. Putting some work into your facial muscles can help give you a more attractive face to show the world.

Steps

Part One of Three:Exercising Your Forehead and Eyes

1

Pull on your forehead with your index finger. Using just your fingers, you can apply pressure to your forehead so that shifting your eyebrows can strengthen that part of your face. This can help smooth lines on your forehead.[1]

Put your index fingers just above each of your eyes.

Pull down on your eyes while trying to raise your eyebrows.

Repeat 10 times to help firm your forehead.

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Do an eye squeeze. Work your eyelids further by squeezing your eyes shut with a little stretching resistance from your mouth. Because it uses so many different muscles, this exercise can help to stretch out your entire face, not just your eyes.[5]

Squeeze one eye shut for one second, then repeat 10 times, holding your lips to the side. Then do the other eye.

Do 3 sets of 10 for each eye, take a short rest, then do another 3 sets of 10.

6

Stretch your face while holding your eyes. This will help to build the muscles around your eyelids to give you more awake-looking eyes. Use your fingers to provide some resistance to the basic action of opening and closing your eyes.[6]

Make a C around your eyes using your thumbs and index finger. Make sure your index finger is over your eyebrow and thumb against your cheek.

Not necessarily! While the eye squeeze exercise works several different muscles in your face, it isn't the best option for achieving more awake eyes. Instead, use the eye squeeze method to stretch your entire face. Choose another answer!

Lift your brow with your fingers while keeping your eyelids closed.

Not necessarily! Stretching your eyelids isn't the best method for awake-looking eyes. Instead, when you stretch your eyelids, you help remove wrinkles and make your eyelids stronger. Choose another answer!

Part Two of Three:Exercising Your Mouth

1

Exercise by smiling. One of the simplest ways to firm up your smile is to practice doing it. In this exercise, you’ll slowly move your mouth into the position of a full smile, holding different positions. This will give you better control of your face and smiling capabilities.[7]

Slowly begin to smile by stretching the corner of your mouth laterally, lips still together.

After that, turn your mouth upward to expose your upper teeth.

Smile as widely as you can, displaying your teeth.

Once you have reached that point, slowly relax your mouth, bringing the smile back to the starting point.

Stop at several stages on this expansion of your smile, and hold that position for 10 seconds.

2

Apply pressure to your smile. Similar to the last exercise, this one using different stages of your smile to work the muscles in your face. Here, your fingers will provide extra resistance to further work the muscles around your mouth.[8]

Make a full smile, and use your fingers to hold it in place by putting pressure on each corner.

Close your lips halfway, then fully, using your fingers to resist the movement.

Hold each position for 10 seconds.

3

Do a face lift exercise. This exercise works the muscles around your upper lip to help prevent sagging and keep a strong lip contour. Doing it properly will help you have a stronger smile that shows more of your upper teeth.[9]

Open your mouth slightly and flare your nostrils. Wrinkle up your nose as far as possible, then slowly draw your upper lip as high as you can, and hold for 10 seconds.

Leave your mouth slightly open, and place one finger under the eye on the cheekbone. Curl your upper lip slowly upward, keeping finger pressure on your face. Hold for 10 seconds, then slowly return to the original position.

4

Do a lip exercise. This is a simple exercise that will help increase the blood flow to your lips. This will give the fleshier parts a healthier, livelier, and more natural color.[10]

Open your mouth slightly, making sure your upper and lower lips are relaxed.

Do a mandibular strengthening exercise. This exercise works your mandible, the lower jaw, and important part of smiling, talking, and chewing, as well as anything else your mouth does. An exercise like this will help to prevent a double chin and prevent aging grooves on the lower part of your face.[11]

Slowly return your jaw, lips, then teeth back to their original position.

6

Do the OO-EE mouth. Moving your mouth to some basic sounds can help you target the lips, as well as the muscles between your upper lip and nose. This is a simple exercise that only requires some exaggerated facial movement while making sounds.[12]

Open your mouth, then purse your lips together so that your teeth are separated and not showing.

Say “OO,” using an exaggerated movement to purse your lips together.

Change sounds to “EE,” again using an exaggerated motion to stretch your lips into the proper shape. You can also replace “EE” with “AH” for a slightly different workout.

Do 10 reps between “OO” and “EE,” then repeat for 3 sets.

7

Suck on your finger. Use the natural pressure from a sucking motion to firm up your lips. By removing it at the same time, you’ll be able to provide additional resistance to work against.[13]

Put your finger in your mouth, and suck on it as hard as possible.

While doing that, slowly removing it from your mouth.

Repeat 10 times.

8

Press on your cheeks while smiling. This will help strengthen your cheek muscles. Make sure to keep your head back when you do this exercise.[14]

Press down on your cheeks with your three middle fingers.

While pushing, smile as hard as you can to push your fingers back.

9

Pull your cheeks up. This exercise can help smooth laugh lines and the fine lines around your undereye. Your hands will be doing the work here, stretching the muscles on your face and skin.[15]

Place your palms firmly against your cheeks.

Pull the corners of your lips up toward your temples until you expose your upper teeth and gums.

Hold the position for 30 seconds, release, then repeat 3 times.

10

Squeeze your lips. This exercise will help to condition your lip muscles. Once again your hands will do the work by squeezing your face around your mouth and nose.[16]

Place your palms on your face, with the outer edge on your laugh lines and the bottom edges on the top of the jawline. Use your whole palm to put pressure on your face.

Nope! Instead of using the face lift method, you can increase the natural color in your lips by doing simple lip exercises. This works by increasing the blood flow directed to your lips, bringing out their natural color. Pick another answer!

When you want to show your upper teeth while smiling.

Yes! A face lift exercise forces the muscles around your upper lip to work. This helps prevent sagging, which lets you naturally show more of your upper teeth when you smile. Read on for another quiz question.

When you want to prevent a double chin.

Try again! The face lift method doesn't typically help with double chins. However, doing mandibular strengthening exercises can prevent or decrease the appearance of a double chin. Pick another answer!

When you want to reduce fine lines around your undereye.

Not necessarily! The face lift technique isn't the best exercise for reducing fine lines. However, pulling your cheeks up with your hands can help with lines around your undereye and with laugh lines. Click on another answer to find the right one...

Part Three of Three:Taking Care of Your Face

1

Smile as much as you can. Along with your specific exercises, regular smiling can help keep your muscles strong, while not looking quite as strange as you will when doing the exercises. Plus, smiling often can make you look more relaxed and confident, and help you reduce everyday stress.[17]

2

Keep your face clean. Wash your face regularly to remove impurities and keep your skin clear. In addition, add some skin care products to your washing, like a simple cleanser, moisturizer, and retinoid. This regimen should be simple, as too many products can cause the ingredients to cancel one another out.[18][19]

Eat well for strong skin. Part of facial exercises is helping to tighten your skin for a strong, and younger, look. To help boost the skin in your face, you need to manage your diet well. Get foods strong in Vitamins A and C, as well as Omega-3 fatty acids. This diet will help keep your skin clear and face muscles well-developed.[20][21]

Some good foods for your face include dark colored and leafy fruits and vegetables like carrots, apricots, spinach, tomatoes, and blueberries, beans, peas, and lentils, fatty fish like salmon and mackerel, nuts, garlic, and dark chocolate. In general, foods that are healthy for you overall are also healthy for your face and skin.

Foods high in processed or refined carbohydrates and unhealthy fats will promote aging in your skin, so be careful about eating them.

4

Protect your face from the sun. The sun can easily damage your skin if you aren’t careful, and contributes to giving your face a more aging look. Avoid being outside during peak hours (10 am to 2 pm), wear clothing that covers your body, and lather up with sunscreen. [22][23]

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Part 3 Quiz

How many products should you add to your skincare regimen?

As many as you would like.

Not quite! You should avoid using too many products at one time. The ingredients in all your products can start to cancel each other out. Try again...

Only one or two.

Not necessarily! You can add more than one or two products to your regimen. However, the products you add should complement each other, not take anything away from or cancel out the others. Try another answer...

A handful at most.

Correct! Try using only a handful of products and keep the routine relatively simple. Once you add too many products, the ingredients will cancel each other out, and you won't get the full benefits of your products. Read on for another quiz question.

Community Q&A

You cannot lose fat in a targeted way, but generally, when you diet and exercise you will lose fat more evenly over your whole body, including the face. Any exercise or diet will help you lose fat, though aerobic exercises like running, biking or swimming are often good ways to burn a lot of calories.

Does extending the time and frequency of each exercise yield faster results?

Community Answer

Only up to a point. Like any exercise, you should take it to the point where it aches, and then do a little more. Remember to hold the last stretch for, say, 15 seconds. That last hold is the one that gives you an extra strength boost.

What exercises will specifically work my chin muscles and the sides of my lower lip?

Community Answer

You cannot spot work out your face. If you are trying to get a skinnier face, reduce your overall BMI. This can be accomplished through dieting and cardio work. Smiling can work facial muscles though, so do plenty of it!

Like any exercise regimen, that depends on several factors, including how strong your muscles currently are, which exercises you do, and how well you stick to them. With daily use, you could see results in 3 to 5 months.

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About This Article

This article was co-authored by Troy A. Miles, MD. Dr. Miles is an Orthopedic Surgeon specializing in Adult Joint Reconstruction in California. He received his MD from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 2010, followed by a residency at the Oregon Health & Science University and fellowship at UC Davis.

To exercise facial muscles, do some face lift exercises by wrinkling your nose, opening your mouth, and pulling up on the tops of your cheeks with your fingers for 10 seconds. You can also do lower jaw exercises, like stretching your lower lip forward and upward and holding it for 5 seconds. To strengthen your cheek muscles, smile wide and push upward on your cheeks with your fingers. To exercise the muscles around your eyes and forehead, squeeze your eyes shut and hold for several seconds.

Reader Success Stories

"This was nice. My jawline looks more toned and also my smile lines look less visible. Although it's very time-consuming, it's worth a try."..." more

KD

Kira Deep

May 1

"Thanks for the videos. It's a good way to encourage the facial exercises. I appreciate it. Good job. "

TM

Terence Miller

Apr 21

"I have had myasthinia gravis in the pulbar region of my face for ten years. I began exercising facial muscles and am improving. Your article is great."..." more

Rated this article:

KM

Kelli Meer

Feb 4, 2018

"I am a therapist who works with Parkinson's disease in various stages. My patients require exercises for optimal wellness, and this presentation is a good resource to minimize "masking", often found in people with Parkinson's. Patients and families find this link easy to follow."..." more

Rated this article:

AK

Annie Kalocin

Apr 5, 2016

"Instead of spending money on expensive skin care products that do not work, I feel I have nothing to lose by trying these exercises. You can actually feel it tightening in your face. Also, my neck felt looser immediately. I am going to continue."..." more

LC

Leona Chatman

Jun 6, 2016

"After having a stroke in March 2016 causing facial droop on my left side, this information was very helpful. I'm recovering well. Thanking God for his divine healing power."..." more

NR

Noami Ryan

Apr 23, 2017

"I have fat cheeks and I don't like them. I think the facial exercise will help me. I will try this today. I love it and I will continue to watch all of your videos. Thanks."..." more

BB

Barbara Barrick

Sep 18, 2016

"I am 50 years old and lost 20 pounds. My face, cheeks and jowls especially, are sagging. This gave me inspiration that I can firm up my face and look as young as I feel."..." more

J

Joe

Feb 6

"My sister noticed my forehead was tight and my face was fuller. Clearly this is the result of the exercises, even after trying it for only a week. "..." more

KS

Kimberly Sybesma

Jun 19, 2017

"Felt muscles tensing immediately from these face exercises! I will continue daily. I'm looking forward to seeing my results."..." more

vK

va Kovacs

Mar 1, 2017

"Please check Desiredface.com. I'll try a lot of exercises. This is the more effective--love it. "

SP

Soody P.

Mar 31, 2017

"I can see my face is improving day by day after doing your great face exercises. Thanks a lot!"

Rated this article:

SS

Sarah Smith

Apr 13, 2017

"I tried it and I wanted my friend to do it too and she really liked it!! Thank you!"